Coilers



Aug. 8', 1967 p B, WEST ET AL 3 GOILERS Filed oct. 1, 1964 if Zi 4f /f47 4f 744% /f 2 i fv. vlZ

. /l I j I j\// C jfl f 9 y if 9 /7 I l f7 f 3 aLl/76H /jj 600mm/jgUnited States Patent Oilce 3,334,385 Patented Aug. .8, l1967 3,334,385COILERS Paul B. West, Clemson, and Richard J. Savageau, Seneca, S.C.,assignors to Maremont Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofIllinois Filed Oct. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 400,669

6 Claims. (Cl. l9-.2)

The present invention relates to improvements in coilers, and moreparticularly to a mechanism for rupturing the sliver or similar shortfiber strand material in process of being coiled, and simultaneously forpositioning the leading end of the ruptured sliver in position forcontinued feed.

, It is Va principal object of the invention to provide a novel sliverrupturing device for use in a coiler, which acts automatically whenrendered operative to effect a clean break of the feeding sliver `sothat the trailing end severed with the coil is drawn into the can, andthe severed end of the sliver leading from supply is accurately.positioned to be advanced certainly and accurately into Aa substitutedcan Whenever feed of the sliver is resumed. l

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel and improveddetector device associated with the rupturing device herein set forthwhich will operate in a simple and effective manner to detect anyobstruction to the sliver feed which may occur in that portion of theapparatus located lbetween the tube gear of the coiler and the deliveryrolls through which the sliver is fed to said tube gear.

. With-these and other objects in view as may hereinafter appear, theseveral features of the invention will be readily appreciated by oneskilled in the art from the 4following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying d rawingspin which: i is a fragmentary large scalevertical section taken through a coiler for delivering sliver to a can,illustratingparticularly the tube gear carrying the inclined tube'fordelivering sliver in coiled form to a can, portions ofthe mechanism forfeeding sliver thereto, the sliver disrupting device, and including thesliver feed obstruction detector device associated therewith;

FIG. 2 is a sectional plan View taken on a line 2-2 of FIG. 1illustrating particularly elements of the sliver disrupting device; i

FIG. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on a line 3-3 of FIG.' 2illustrating the operation of the sliver disrupting device; and FIG. 4is a detail plan view of the delivery rolls of FIG. fl, and including aclutching device through which said rolls are driven and a predeterminedyardage counter for measuring the sliver'delivered. Y F

The invention is herein disclosed as embodied in a coiler for Vcoilingsliver'and like material in cans, only so muchof the apparatus beingshown as believed necessary to illustrate the connection of theinvention therewith. The coiling apparatus is in general similar to thatshown, for example, in the patent -to P. B. West et al., No. 2,983,-967, in which sliver 2,0 is delivered by delivery rolls 23, 24 supportedon a fixed coiler head 25 directly over a conventional tube gear 26having external gear teeth 27 and carrying an inclined tube 28 rotatableon a vertical axis on bearings provided by wheels 29 supported on thetube gear 26 for engagement in an annular groove 30 formed in the coilerhead 25.

The delivery rolls 23, 24, best shown in FIG. 4, are preferably flutedintermeshing rolls, one of which is conventionally driven from a driveshaft 31 forming part of the coiler device, not` here shown. Forpurposes of the present disclosure, an electrically operated clutchdiagrammatically shown at 33 and a predetermined yardage counter 32 havebeen interposed between the drive shaft 31 and the delivery roll 23. Theinclined tube 28 is formed with the mouth portion thereof centereddirectly beneath the delivery rolls 23, 24 and with the orifice throughwhich the sliver is discharged to a can 36, offset radially from theaxis of rotation of the tube gear.

The tube gear 26 is driventhrough driving connections which may beconventional and include, for driving the conventional can turntable, avertically disposed drive shaft 38 and a pinion 40 secured to the upperend thereof, which meshes with the peripheral teeth 27 of the tube gear.

` the tube 42 is loosely supported within a sleeve 44 in the fixedcoiler head 25 and is normally held in a raised position relativethereto by means of a compression spring 46 seated at its lower endagainst a shoulder portion of the sleeve 44 and at its upper end againsta shoulder formed in the external periphery of the tube 42. Movement ofthe tube is limited by the stop screw 47 mounted in the sleeve 44 forengagement in a slot 48 in the peripheral surface of the tube 42.Downward movement -of the tube 42 causes an outwardly shouldered upperend portion thereof to engage and to actuate a microswitch 49.

In the event that sliver should become jammed or back up in the tube 42,the tube will be automatically moved downwardly -by additional sliverdelivered by the calender rolls causing the microswitch 49 to operate.The detector device thus provided is advantageously employed to arrestthe operation of the machine, as, for example, lby disconnecting clutch33 to stop the delivery Iroll 23, 24.

Elements of my improved sliver disrupting device include additionally asliver ow'impeding element in the form of a comb 53, which is secured toan inwardly projecting flange 54 of the coiler head 25 to extendtransversely adjacent one edge and immediately above the inlet openingof the inclined tube 28, and a hook 56 which is arranged to swinglaterally in a horizontal plane immediately beneath the lower end of thetube 42 and above the comb 53. The hook 56 comprises Ia wire memberhaving at one end a downward extension which is fitted into a bearingformed in a -block 58 mounted on the coiler head 25 and provides aypivot support about which the hook swings. A segmental gear 60 securedto the pivoting portion of the hook 56 is arranged for engagement with-a rack 62 slidably supported in a bore in the block 58. A coiledcompression spring 63 seated within the bore referred to and engagingone end of the rack 62 normally holds the rack, segmental gears 60 andswinging hook 56 in the retracted inoperative position shown in FIG. 2-.The hook is adapted to be swung across the inlet opening of the upperend of the inclined tube 28 and over the comb 53 to engage and todisrupt the sliver 20 by means of operating connections which include anelectrically operated air valve 64 connected with a piston 66 which isformed integrally with the rack 62. The swinging movement of the hook 56induced by the operation of the air valve 64 and rack 62 causes `a bightof sliver 20 to be taken and moved laterally as shown in FIG. 3, thelower edge thereof engaging against the teeth of the comb 53, the combacting as a heavy friction snub to prevent movement of this portion ofthe sliver. The movement of the hook 56 thus has the effect ofstretching that portion of the sliver extending between the nip of thecalender rolls 23, 24 and the friction snub on the sliver produced bythe engagement of the teeth of the comb 53 thereagainst. Inasmuch asthis distance is substantially greater than the length of any individualfiber inthe sliver, the stretch thus imposed upon this portion of thesliver causes the sliver to be disrupted.

Conventionally arranged electrical connections between the counter 32,clutch 33 and air valve 64, and between the microswitch 49 and theclutch 33 are diagrammatically indicated in FIGS. l, 2 and 4 of thedrawings. As shown in FIG. 4 the counter 32 when actuated closes acircuit through -a wire 72 to the electrically operated clutch causingthe clutch to open, and closes a second circuit through lead 74indicated in FIG. 4 and in FIG. 2 to the electrically controlled airvalve 64 causing the hook 56 to operate. The micro-switch 49 whenactuated closes a circuit to the clutch 33 through a wire 76 shown inFIGS. 4 and 1 causing the clutch to open.

The operation of our improved sliver disrupting device will be describedmore particularly as follows:

It is assumed that the completion of a coiling operation has beensignaled as, for example, by the operation of the conventionally shownelectric counter 32. The rotation of the calender rolls 23, 24 is nowarrested or greatly reduced as, for example, by the operation of theelectric-ally operated clutch 33 energized through the electric circuit72.

The electrically operated valve 64 is now energize-d through electriccircuit 74 to swing the hook 56 to the sliver disrupting position shownin dotted lines in FIG. 2 and in full lines in FIG. 3 causing a lengthof sliver extending between the arrested calender rolls 23, 24 and thehigh friction snub produced by the teeth of the comb 53 to besubstantially stretched..The held length of sliver is thus stretched tothe disrupting point at which the relatively short lengths of fiber arepulled away from one another producing the break in the sliver shown inFIG. 3. The hook immediately returns to its normal position. The lowerof the two sliver ends produced by the sliver severing operation isdrawn downwardly into the filled can upon removal of the can, while theupper end of the severed sliver leading from supply is left suspended inthe vertically arranged tube 44.

The apparatus described has the advantage that it produces a clean breakin the sliver and leaves a hanging end thereof which is positionedwithin the vertical tube 44, so located that when the feeding of thesliver is resumed the free end will automatically be fed downwardlythrough the vertical tube 44, the connecting sloping tube 28, andfinally into a can selected to receive said fibers.

The tube 42 is of such length with relation to the length of theindividual short fibers of the sliver and the relative positions andproportions of the various elements are such that the severing of thesliver must occur without fail in the upper tube 42. The orderly ruptureof the strand and its vertical orientation in the tube insures that thesliver strand will be self-threading through a lower inclined tube whenthe calender rolls 23, 24 resume their rotation. Satisfactory operationof the sliver severing device is made possible principally by the use ofthe vertical tube section preceding the swinging hook, and by the use ofthe high friction snubbing surface provided by the comb 53 directlybelow the hook, to prevent withdrawal of sliver from the inclined tubeand so to cause the rupture to occur where desired.

It will be readily appreciated that circumstances may occur in which thesevered end or more following portion of the sliver may become bunchedup or otherwise entangled in the vertical tube 42 with the result thatthe normal feed of the sliver is obstructed with the risk of damage tothe apparatus. In such case the tube 42 will be forced downwardlyagainst the spring 46 causing the micro-switch to operate closing thecircuit through wire 76 to the clutch 33, which is immediatelydisconnected to stop the feed of delivery rolls 23, 24.

The invention having been described what is claimed is:

1. In a coiler having a pair of delivery rolls having a sliver feedingnip providing a sliver delivery path therebeneath, control means forcontrolling the rotation of said delivery rolls to arrest the feed ofsliver therebetween; sliver severing means comprising sliverdeflectingAV means including an arm 4mounted below said delivery rollsfor swinging movement in a horizontal plane from an inoperative positionat one side of the path of sliver delivery to an operative positionadjacent the opposite side of said path to deflect said sliver towardsaid opposite side, sliver snubbing means including a sliver fiowimpeding element mounted below said sliver deflecting means on said op`posite side of said path, and operating means moving said sliverdeflecting means from its inoperative to its operative position to deectsaid sliver from said path into snubbing contact with said sliver flowimpeding element, said operating means operating upon the reduction offeed of sliver by said control means to disrupt said sliver between saiddelivery rolls and said sliver flow impeding element.

2. In a coiler, a sliver severing means according to claim 1 in whichthere is provided a vertically disposed sliver feed tube extending from-beneath said rolls down? wardly to a point above said sliver detiectingmeans, vsaidV tube having a length so related to the length ofindividual fibers of said sliver that the severed end of the feedingsliver will be located within said vertical tube.

3. In a coiler, sliver severing means according to claim 1 in which thesliver snubbing means comprises a high friction toothed com-b forfrictionally engaging'the deflected sliver.

4. In a coiler, a sliver severing means according to claim 1 having avertically arranged feed tube extending from beneath said delivery rollsto a point immediately above said sliver -deflecting means, and a sliversnubbing means comprising a transversely disposed toothed comb mountedbelow said sliver deecting means and above said delivery tube forsnubbing and frictionally impeding the snubbed sliver. 'Y

5. In a coiler having sliver severing means according to claim 1 inwhich there is provided a vertically disposed sliver feed tube extendingfrom beneath said rolls downwardly to a point above said sliverdeflecting means, a support on which said feed tube is movablelongitudinally, means biasing said feed tube longitudinally upwardlytoward said rolls, and an operating device arranged to be actuated by adownward movement of said feed tube against said bias upon theoccurrence of an obstruction of said feeding sliver within the feedtube.

6. In a coiler as claimed in claim 1, further including a stop motioncomprising a vertically movable tube mounted between said delivery rollsand said sliver deflecting means surrounding said path, yieldable meansnormally maintaining said vertically movable tube in a predeterminedposition, and switch means responsive to movement of said tube occurringupon plugging of said tube, said control means being responsive to saidswitchmeans to stop said delivery rolls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS i 7/1902 Meats et al 19--23MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

I. C. WADDEY, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A COILER HAVING A PAIR OF DILIVERY ROLLS HAVING A SLIVER FEEDINGNIP PROVIDING A SLIVER DELIVERY PATH THEREBENEATH, CONTROL MEANS FORCONTROLLING THE ROTATION OF SAID DELIVERY ROLLS TO ARREST THE FEED OFSLIVER THEREBETWEEN; SLIVER SEVERING MEANS COMPRISING SLIVER DEFLECTINGMEANS INCLUDING AN ARM MOUNTED BELOW SAID DELIVERY ROLLS FOR SWINGINGMOVEMENT IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE FROM AN INOPERATIVE POSITION AT ONE SIDEOF THE PATH OF SLIVER DELIVERY TO AN OPERATIVE POSITION ADJACENT THEOPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID PATH TO DEFLECT SAID SLIVER TOWARD SAID OPPOSITESIDE, SLIVER SNUBBING MEANS INCLUDING A SLIVER FLOW IMPEDING ELEMENTMOUNTED BELOW SAID SLIVER DEFLECTING MEANS ON SAID OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAIDPATH, AND OPERATING MEANS MOVING SAID SLIVER DEFLECTING MEANS FROM ITSINOPERATIVE TO ITS OPERATIVE POSITION TO DEFLECT SAID SLIVER FROM SAIDPATH INTO SNUBBING CONTACT WITH SAID SLIVER FLOW IMPEDING ELEMENT, SAIDOPERATING MEANS OPERATING UPON THE REDUCTION OF FEED OF SLIVER BY SAIDCONTROL MEANS TO DISRUPT SAID SLIVER BETWEEN SAID DELIVERY ROLLS ANDSAID SLIVER FLOW IMPEDING ELEMENT.